In-House– Shorter loan duration, normally 5-10 years – Higher interest rates compared to banks, basically due to the short loan terms– High approval rate – Less paperworks and requirements

Bank Financing– Longer loan terms, between 10-25 years – Lower interest rates, each bank offers different rates, and may change every 3-5 years – Approval depends on your capacity to pay, and credit history – More paperworks and requirements

If you have the money, I would recommend going for in-house financing. You can’t get rid of the paperworks, but it is a lot lesser compared to when you apply for a home loan in a bank. While the terms are shorter, and interest rates are a bit higher, it would still be more practical in the long run.

Get a home loan from a bank if your priority is the lower monthly amortization. You may also find a bank that offers home loan promos such as rebates or low interest rates when you apply during a certain period of the year.

I went for bank financing because SMDC is not very keen at accepting in-house financing applications. They were not very enthusiastic about it when I inquired, almost discouraging me not to continue. Nonetheless, the chances of getting approved is high, at least according to the agents that I spoke with.Are you also looking at these two home buying options? Which one are you more inclined to get?

The biggest questions that I asked myself when I was looking for a condominium are; where should I apply for a home loan? Which bank will approve my home loan application? Which has the fastest home loan approval process? Is it going to be difficult? Or should I opt for in-house financing instead?

I went for bank financing, and at that time I had over four months to get a bank’s approval.
The realities started to sink in when I got my first rejection, it was from PSBank. PSBank was my first bank of choice because my friend who also applied to them a few months earlier got approved. I, on the other hand, never heard from them.

After two weeks, I anxiously submitted my application to China Bank upon the suggestion of my agent. I received a call after a few days for the usual verification process. Over a week later, the lady called me back and dropped the bomb – my loan application was denied because of an unsettled credit card debt with HSBC. I discussed this in this article:

My biggest fear just came back to haunt me again. My agent was now asking me to call HSBC but I refused. I insisted that HSBC will no longer entertain me, and if they do, I might need to go through all the legal stuff which I was not prepared to do. The third rejection is from Metrobank, and next was UCPB. Both banks never get in touched with me; I imagined them literally throwing my application forms in the trash.

Four rejections in a row. That was my life already telling me to pay attention; it has almost gotten me into depression.

So which banks eventually approved my home loan application? And how fast?

First, I am giving a special mention to BPI.

My agent, being so patient urged me to try one more bank. He said he knows someone from the bank who could help. I started to not believe him anymore as that has been his usual line since we started. I completed the paperworks anyway, and he submitted them to BPI.

BPI called me and my brother (who is my co-borrower) after three days. The next week, they came back and advised me to get a Letter of Full Payment from HSBC. This is the bank clearance that I was talking about in this article:

That gave me the strength to ask; will my application be approved if I submit a clearance? The answer from the other line was a positive YES! And so days later, I decided to make that call. And the rest is history.

BPI eventually accepted my application but the total approved amount is less than what I needed. It turns out that they did not include my sister as a co-borrower, and me and my brother’s combined salary only qualify for a certain loan amount. To be fair with BPI, they kept my application active for at least a month and was regularly contacting me if I wanted to proceed.

UnionBank to the rescue!

With my permission, my ever persistent agent filled-out the UnionBank application forms himself and submitted them to UnionBank. He has copies of all my supporting documents so he did not even have to meet me at that point.

Their process is quite traditional. On the first week, an agent actually visited me at my apartment and conducted a C.I. and background investigation. Someone also went to our hometown in the far-flung province, and looked for my brother at our Municipal Hall where he works. My sister who is working abroad also had to give her employer’s email address for further checking. Overall, it was lots of work but quite fun. After all that we’ve been through, we readily complied to all their requirements.

On the third week, I finally received the best news I would hear that year.

Overall, UnionBank was quite strict but after having been denied by four banks, I did not feel being subjected to a long process anymore. My home loan was booked after two months, and before 2016 ended, I made my first monthly payment.

You might wonder, why didn’t I try BDO? For some reason, I did not think that BDO will approve my application. It was probably due to the quite strict and long process that I went through when I applied for a checking account with them a year earlier. I maybe wrong though, anyone who have positive experiences with BDO in terms of loans? Or do you have a similar story? Feel free to share by leaving a comment below.

While in the process of acquiring a property, my agent suggested that I apply for a checking account with China Bank since SMDC require post-dated checks for the downpayment. I agreed to go to China Bank, but SMDC was quick to give me an endorsement letter addressed to BDO One-Ecom branch beside Mall of Asia.

I decided to take that as I thought it would be faster and easier, and the Php5000 maintaining balance that SMDC requested is attractive. Most banks require no lower than Php15,000 maintaining balance for checking accounts.

My agent and I went to that BDO branch, and we were surprised with the long process. I understand the paperworks, but they actually had to call my workplace to verify my employment status. I was amused, did I just apply for a credit card? We were inside the bank for almost two hours!

So, why was it do difficult to get a checking account from BDO?

Well, this is true to most banks. They require you to have a savings account with them for at least six months, and your checking account must be opened in the same branch. I do have a savings account with BDO but in a different branch.

Hence, if you really need a checking account, your current bank is the best place to go. I was lucky that my application was approved by BDO One E-com despite not having a savings account account with them. The referral letter from SMDC definitely helped.

Have you also encountered problems getting a checking account? Which bank?

I was checking my loan amortization yesterday when I noticed the “MRI Premium” beside fire insurance. I’m sure the bank representative discussed this when I was signing my loan documents, but with hundreds of papers to be signed, I could no longer remember what this is (it took me an hour to sign all the documents!). All along, I thought fire insurance and MRI are one and the same. Obviously, I was wrong.So what is a Mortgage Redemption Insurance or MRI?

It is basically a form of life insurance, or we could say, an insurance for our home loan. This means that in the event the borrower dies, the remaining balance of the loan will be taken care of by the insurance company (because it is insured). So the family of the borrower won’t have to worry about choosing to pay for the remaining balance, or have the property foreclosed.

Do we really need an MRI?

Upon learning what an MRI is for, I felt better now that this is included in the monthly amortization of my home loan. Just like fire insurance, MRI is an inclusion to home loans from most (if not all) banks in the Philippines. If you do not have a life insurance, an MRI would be a good alternative.

But what if you have a life insurance, can you use that to replace an MRI?

“If you have an existing life insurance plan, you can negotiate with your bank by telling them that instead of the MRI, you would rather assign the bank as your beneficiary, allotting a portion of the sum assured to cover the amount you owe.

For instance, if you have an insurance plan worth P2 million, and the amount you owe the bank is, say, P800,000, you can ask your life insurance provider to assign P800,000 in favor of the bank. You can present this to your bank as proof that they will still get the money you owe in case something happens to you.”

I do have a life insurance with SunLife, but I haven’t really considered talking to my bank regarding this. I assume that they would not accept this option, since the MRI is a mandatory inclusion to the home loan.

Do you have fire insurance for your condo? How much are you paying for fire insurance?

My co-worker was asking me these questions yesterday. I remember about fire insurance being mentioned by my agent when I signed the loan documents at UnionBank last year. However, I forgot the exact figures; I took this is a reminder to check on my monthly amortization schedule again.
There you go. So, I am paying Php4,332.49 a year for fire insurance to Mapfre Insular. They are tied with UnionBank, and the fire insurance is mandatory which is added to my monthly amortization. I never really heard anyone talking about fire insurance before. And now that I think about it, isn’t earthquake insurance a more appropriate offering for condo owners in Metro Manila?

Do you also have a fire insurance for your property here in the Philippines? Share us your story by leaving a comment below.

Anyway, while looking at my loan amortization schedule, the MRI Premium caught my attention. I am going to talk about MRI in my next post.

My credit card debt started to pile up in 2008. I had the card for only over a year, and by the second year, I was already only paying the minimum required payment. How did it happen? It was basically due to lack of knowledge about credit card usage.

I decided to stop paying in October 2010. I lost my card three months prior to that, and the replacement card that I requested was never delivered in my address. I dealt with customer service for three months that when I finally got the card, I immediately throw it away and decided to forget about it. And so I thought.

For the next few months, I started receiving calls, emails and letters from debt collectors often posing as lawyers. I became an expert at recognizing unwanted calls and in researching who those callers are. When I got a new job in 2012 and needed to travel abroad, my company submitted an application for an AMEX Corporate card for myself and was denied. We had to submit a notarized document in order to get the issuing bank’s approval.

The calls and emails stopped for awhile, but in early 2014, they came back. It became concerning at that point as the calls are actually coming in at work. Then in 2015, my siblings and I purchased a condominium unit under my name. That is when my credit card nightmare started (again).

I’d say, I always had the intention to eventually pay as I have been in fact saving money for it. But I just didn’t know how and where to start. A lot of things are holding me back, I was afraid that:

my bank might ignore me and refer me to the debt collectors. I was firm from the very beginning that I will never negotiate with debt collectors, ever.

my bank may accommodate me but I was afraid my debt has already earned very high interest which I could not afford to pay.

I might need to get a lawyer and deal with all the legal stuff.

All these disappeared with just one call!

See, all banks declined my home loan application because of my unsettled credit card debt. It took my agents over three months to convince me to call my bank. And the rest is history, you may check my previous post for the story:

1. If your card is still active, meaning your latest payment due date has not passed one month yet, call your bank and ask for an amnesty. Negotiate and request for a supervisor if necessary. Be honest about your financial status and come to an agreement about payment terms and on deducting interests. You may be granted a payment term of up to six or twelve months depending on the total amount. Note that the bank’s decision will depend on your past paying habits. If you have been a very good payer for a long time, you may be given better options and considerations.

2. If you already stopped paying and you have already been receiving calls from debt collectors, you may:

negotiate with the debt collector

ignore them, save money, and settle with your bank at the soonest

Either way, you are going to pay anyway. I opted to negotiate with my bank, although it took me six years to do that. You don’t want to wait six years. The need to borrow from a bank may come anytime, and your credit card debt will definitely get in the way. Start considering calling your bank today.

3. Do you have multiple cards and are having a hard time paying them? You can seek assistance from the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP). The below article may be useful:

Basically, they will help you consolidate your credit card debts through their Inter-bank Debt Relief Program (IDRP). Start by calling your bank, and ask if they are a member of CCAP, and is participating in the IDRP.

There may be lots of things which are holding you back right now. You may choose to settle your credit card debt today, or later. But one thing is for sure, it feels great when you finally get to receive that clearance. Peace of mind, at last. If you have been dealing with debt collectors for awhile, maybe this is the time to call you bank.

Are you also having problems paying off your credit card debt? Share us your story; feel free to leave your comments below.

I encountered this while processing my home loan documents with UnionBank. Since my sister (who is my co-borrower) is working in Canada, I needed to sign all the bank documents in her behalf (unless she actually wants to fly back here in Manila). As a requirement, we had to submit a Consularized Special Power of Attorney.
Unlike a regular Special Power of Attorney (SPA) where you only need a lawyer to notarize the papers, the Consularized SPA needs to be brought to the Philippine Embassy in the country where the person involved is located. For our case, my sister went to the Philippine Embassy in Vancouver.

The process is quick and she was able to obtain the consularized SPA the same day. The SPA itself doesn’t need to be notarized, the officers inside the embassy will simply sign on it as witnesses, and is provided with a cover page with the consul’s signature and a red ribbon:

So, what do you need to bring when processing a Consularized Special Power of Attorney?

1. The SPA form itself. It doesn’t have to be notarized (rules may be different in other Philippine Embassies).

2. Your passport, and depending on rules of the Philippine Embassy in the country where you reside, you may need to bring an ID and additional documents. It is advisable that you call them first beforehand. You can go to ph.embassyinformation.com to lookup for contact information of Philippine Embassies worldwide.

Whether you are wondering if you still have a loan balance or just want to find out if you can now renew your loan, calling SSS to verify or visiting one of their branches would be the best options. But if you have an online account, these information are just a few clicks away. If you do not have an online account yet, go to https://www.sss.gov.ph/ and register. Make sure that you are registering as a “Member” not as an “Employer. Also, use the latest version of Internet Explorer as some of the website functions do not work with other browsers.

Upon logging in, click on “E-SERVICES” and select “Apply for Salary Loan”. If you have an existing loan, the following message will appear:

From here, you can also check your loan balance and other details such as when the loan was submitted, your monthly amortization and the like. If you go to “Inquiry” you will find your profile details, and you can get a complete view of your total contribution along with your monthly premiums.

Applying for a home loan in a bank could be intimidating. For the majority of us, PAG-IBIG comes as the preferred, if not the only option. And so we ask, how much could we borrow from PAG-IBIG based on our monthly salary?

The good news is, just like most banks, PAG-IBIG has an online loan calculator too! Could you believe we are not spending hours in long lines just to get answers to these simple inquiries anymore? It sounds too convenient knowing our government standards, but let’s take advantage of that and find answers from there.

Moving on, their latest rates are effective as of July 2016, and for this test, I used the below example:

Desired Loan Amount: Php 2.0M

Preferred Repayment Period: 25 years

Monthly Income: Php 25,000

They have three different computations – based on desired loan value, monthly income, and property value. However, the second category kind of precedes the other two. This means that everything will actually depend on your monthly income, or combined monthly income if you have a co-borrower.

I will go directly to the estimated maximum loanable value based on a Php 25,000 gross monthly income. Note that all these results are ESTIMATES and my different from the actual numbers when you get approved.

If you are earning Php 25,000 a month, the maximum loanable amount is Php 1.22M with a monthly amortization of Php 7,500 for 25 years. Not bad.

2. Now, since we need Php 2.0M, what should our total monthly income be? Based on the below estimates, the monthly income requirement is Php 41,000. For this example, you will need a co-borrower with a monthly income of at least Php 16,000 in order to qualify.

3. Lastly, let’s check the third option. Based on the results, it is suggesting a maximum loanable amount of Php 1.5M if the value of the property is Php 2.0M. Which means you will pay the remaining Php 500,000 in cash. And if your salary is around Php 31,000, you will definitely qualify.

Overall, this may be confusing but it is ideal to always start looking at your gross monthly income. From there, you will know which property to consider.